Japan orders Facebook to improve data protection

(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 21, 2018 A lit sign is seen at the entrance to Facebook’s corporate headquarters location in Menlo Park, California. – Facebook said Friday, October 12, 2018, that hackers accessed personal data of 29 million users in a breach at the world’s leading social network disclosed late last month. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

The Japanese government on Monday ordered Facebook to improve the protection of users’ personal information following data breaches affecting tens of millions of people worldwide.

Facebook said early this month that hackers accessed the personal data of 29 million users in a breach at the world’s leading social network first disclosed late September.

The company had originally said up to 50 million accounts were affected in a cyber attack that exploited a trio of software flaws to steal “access tokens” that enable people to automatically log back onto the platform.